Komnas HAM: Marginalized and Vulnerable Groups Lose Their Rights to Vote in the 2024 Election

The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) found a number of human rights violations during the 2024 elections. Based on Komnas HAM’s monitoring on February 12–16, 2024, in 14 provinces and 50 districts and cities, many marginalized and vulnerable groups were still found who did not fulfill their voting rights. Komnas HAM assesses that this is due to the lack of attention of election organizers to marginalized and vulnerable groups.

“Almost all hospitals do not have special voting stations (TPS), so hundreds of health workers and patients have lost their right to vote in Indonesia,” said Komnas HAM Commissioner Saurlin Siagian during a press conference at the Komnas HAM Office, Central Jakarta (21/2).

Apart from that, hundreds of people with social welfare problems (PMKS) were also found in various social institutions who were unable to exercise their right to vote because they were not registered on the additional voter list at the location of the social institutions. The lack of socialization by election organizers with social care administrators is considered to be the main reason why PMKS cannot exercise their right to vote.

Komnas HAM also found that thousands of prisoners (WBP) had lost their right to vote because they were not registered on the permanent and additional voter lists. Komnas HAM notes that as many as 1,804 WBPs in Class I Penitentiary (Lapas) Medan cannot exercise their right to vote because they do not have an e-KTP; in Class II B Detention Center in Poso Regency, as many as 205 WBPs who are on the additional voter list (DPTb) cannot exercise their rights. He voted because there was a shortage of ballots.

” And in the Class II A Manado prison, 101 inmates registered as DPT were unable to exercise their right to vote because they lacked votes,” he said.

Komnas HAM noted that many workers lost their right to vote because they had to work on voting day. Saurlin explained that this happened in connection with the Circular Letter of the Minister of Manpower No. 1 of 2024 concerning the implementation of holidays for workers and laborers and voting dates for general elections and elections for governors, regents, and mayors. According to him, this regulation does not require companies to take workers off work on voting day.

“The opportunity to earn more wages by continuing to work on election day provides an opportunity for companies to continue to employ workers and ignore their voting rights,” said Saurlin.

Regarding the rights of indigenous peoples, Komnas HAM views that tensions between election organizers regarding the provision of voting rights for indigenous groups will still be minimal in the 2024 elections. Another problem is that the regional specificities of indigenous peoples have also not been able to be overcome by election organizers to include the voting rights of indigenous peoples.

“We noted that 600 people from the Outer Baduy indigenous community do not have e-KTPs, so they are not registered as voters,” explained Saurlin Siagian. []